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Day: March 11, 2026

Domestic violence in Northern Illinois: A 2-part series: Why police say more women are being charged

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Domestic violence in Northern Illinois: A 2-part series: Why police say more women are being charged

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Editor’s note: Today marks the first installment of a two-day series about the growing number of women charged with domestic assault

Domestic violence in Northern Illinois: A 2-part series: Why police say more women are being charged

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Domestic violence in Northern Illinois: A 2-part series: Why police say more women are being charged

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Domestic violence in Northern Illinois: A 2-part series: Why police say more women are being charged

Editor’s note: Today marks the first installment of a two-day series about the growing number of women charged with domestic assault.Peru attorney John Fisher started his law career prosecuting domestic violence cases in the early 1990s. Back then, female suspects charged with domestic battery were virtually unheard of.Times have changed dramatically. Fisher is now a solo practitioner in La Salle County, and an increasing number of his clients are women charged with domestic violence.“I’ve seen more and more women getting charged for attacking men,” Fisher said. “In the last two years, it’s really picked up.”Court statistics back him up, revealing a significant generational shift in domestic offenses by gender. In 2000, just 13% of misdemeanor domestic battery charges filed in La Salle County were against women. Last year, that figure had more than doubled to 28%.The trend is not unique to La Salle County. Nationally, women still make up the majority of victims. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 41% of women and 26% of men experience physical violence, sexual violence, or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime. More than 61 million women and 53 million men have experienced psychological aggression by an intimate partner.Police and prosecutors interviewed for this story cite broad societal shifts: Stricter police policies, rising substance abuse, changing family structures and the legalization of same-sex marriage. But experts disagree on whether women are truly committing more domestic violence or whether men are finally reporting abuse they previously hid.La Salle County State’s Attorney Joe Navarro said substance abuse is a key factor in the rise.“It’s equal to both parties with regards to substance abuse,” Navarro said. “That’s been a key theme that’s followed this type of case.”Tom Templeton, who spent 50 years with the La Salle County Sheriff’s Office, the last 20 as sheriff, acknowledged that men were historically reluctant to report abuse due to stigma.“The crime was terribly underreported from the early 1970s and 1980s and not only by women,” Templeton said. “Men were not going to call the cops and say, ‘My wife beat me up.’”Templeton noted that in the 1970s and ’80s, police focused on immediate safety rather than investigation. “We were taught: Get them separated. Get her safety. Get the guy out of the house,” he said.And at that time there wasn’t much protest from the victims. “As bad as things were, they still needed him at work and to put food on the table,” Templeton said. “So a lot of them just endured, which was horrible.”A fundamental shift occurred in the 1990s when lawmakers limited police discretion in domestic violence cases. Police who spotted corroborating evidence of abuse — blood, bruising, or other injuries — were effectively required to make an arrest.“There was no help. There was no aid. They were on their own,” Templeton said of victims in earlier decades.But as studies and high-profile cases brought attention to domestic violence, the response shifted from mediation to evidence collection and prosecution. Police began coordinating with prosecutors for court intervention, such as counseling or classes.That policy change has boosted not only the number of cases but also increased the number of women taken into custody.Police and prosecutors agree that women today struggle as much with substance abuse as men, which has ratcheted up domestic disputes.La Salle County’s problems with drug-fueled violence mushroomed in 2004 with the arrival of heroin. Felonies climbed 60% over the next four years, and other drugs of abuse surged over the same span.Emily Baker, communications specialist for the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office, said deputies have responded to calls where both women and men are aggressors.“The calls, like most domestics, typically involve alcohol, drugs, mental health, relationship and financial issues,” Baker said.The sheriff’s office social workers follow up on domestic calls and provide resource referrals, she said.Historically, domestic disputes have been between husband and wife, with the male partner typically the assailant. But the rise of same-sex unions has skewed the statistical data.Some of the statistical shifts may also reflect changes in how relationships are recorded.Illinois enacted civil unions in 2011 and same-sex marriages in 2014. When a domestic dispute occurs between same-sex female partners, the assailant is necessarily logged in court records as female. This has created a statistical bump in the number of women charged with domestic violence.Mendota attorney David Kaleel, a longtime defense lawyer in La Salle County, noted this shift. In his first 10 years of practice, starting in 1981, he could recall only one woman charged with domestic battery – she was accused of stabbing her cheating husband in the leg.“Now, in a lot of my current cases a woman is a defendant,” Kaleel said, “and the victim is also a woman.”In Crystal Lake, the largest city in McHenry County, Deputy Chief Richard Neumann said that since 2022, Crystal Lake police have responded to 1,404 domestic-related incidents. In 848 of those calls, the victim was listed as female, while in 556 calls the victim was male.Although cases of domestic abuse may be underreported, police who respond to all cases, regardless of who calls for help, “are expected to conduct thorough investigations,” Neumann said.Tomorrow: Part 2 examines the debate over whether women are truly committing more domestic violence, explores the experiences of male victims, and presents real cases that illustrate the complexity of these situations.

Domestic violence in Northern Illinois: A 2-part series: Why police say more women are being charged

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Domestic violence in Northern Illinois: A 2-part series: Why police say more women are being charged

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Starved Rock opens registration for spring break nature workshops for kids

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Former Immaculate Conception church site cleared except for main church

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La Salle library hosts March events: A.I. seminar, crafts, egg drop

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